


Rats of the Earth

by tarinumenesse



Series: Lone Moon [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Death, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hallucinations, Revenge, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 06:17:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20385034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tarinumenesse/pseuds/tarinumenesse
Summary: It is Dimitri’s duty to cleanse Fódlan of the scum that defile the goddess’s creation. It is the only way for him to atone for his survival and the only way he can justify his existence.





	Rats of the Earth

The rats of the earth were everywhere. Crawling over the soil of the once sacred land of Fódlan. Their blood watered the trees and their thoughts polluted the night. They left their nests, piles of trash and destruction, throughout the countryside; they took and plundered with greed and vile intentions; they destroyed everything that had once been good in the now goddess-forsaken world.

A group of them were gathered around a campfire in the rest area next to the Officers Academy. They roasted fish over the flames, turning them in time to their gruff chatter and harsh laughter. Three of them were middle aged and, from what Dimitri had seen by the light of late evening, veterans of theft and conflict. The last was little more than a youth, being raised in the ways of vermin.

They were disgusting. All of them. And it was his sworn task to destroy them and send them to the pit.

Dimitri shifted, moving his arm to release the tension in his shoulder. He had been watching them for over an hour now, waiting for them to relax and believe that they were alone. They had chosen the monastery thinking that it was a haven for scum like themselves. No Imperial zealots, no Kingdom fundamentalists. A safe hiding place.

They had neglected the rumours that circulated in the villages and hamlets below Garreg Mach. Over the past two years, on his short visits into town to buy food with coin stolen from corpses, Dimitri had overheard many theories about the people who never returned from the top of the hill. Some claimed that wolves roamed the monastery. Others put the disappearances down to Imperial soldiers or Kingdom knights, depending where their loyalties lay.

But some spoke of a monster that struck in the night, with a hide as hard as stone and strength that belied his thin and sunken appearance. A monster haunted the once peaceful monastery and made sacrifices to the goddess with the hearts of intruders, they said.

Dimitri pulled the wolf pelt that rested over his shoulders tighter against a sudden breeze. Perhaps they were not too far from the truth.

As the rats below took the fish from over the fire and began to eat, Dimitri rose to a crouch and crept along the roof. It was time. He was outnumbered, but that was nothing unusual. Besides which, one of the group had a limp and so could be disregarded as a threat. It would all be over before they knew what had happened.

The rats’ chatter grew louder as Dimitri approached from the terrace, carrying a lance and Edelgard’s knife. They were no longer paying attention to things that moved in the night. Focussed instead on the success of the day’s plunder and on filling their bellies. They did not deserve to live.

Dimitri threw himself into the light of the fire with a scream. They tried to scramble to their feet, but they were too slow.

The one with the limp was already dead, the lance pushed through his heart. Dimitri yanked it from his still body, blood splattering across his armour. He dispatched the next one with a single thrust through the neck. The man spluttered, blood gurgling as he struggled for breath. He would die slowly.

Dimitri laughed. A death he deserved.

The youth had drawn a sword and faced Dimitri. He was young, younger than Dimitri had realised. Barely more than a schoolboy. He clutched the grip of his sword with both hands and his stance revealed his inexperience. Dimitri grinned at the fear in his face.

‘Who are you?’ the boy quavered.

‘Judgement,’ Dimitri replied as he pounced.

The boy managed to parry the attack. But he could not stand up to Dimitri’s experience or height, and Dimitri punctured his arm with the tip of the lance as he tried to find his balance again. The boy cried out and dropped the sword. He backed away, tripping as he did so and falling to the ground.

Dimitri strode forward, preparing for the kill.

Another blade appeared from the night and fell heavily on Dimitri’s lance. The force of the blow pushed Dimitri’s arms downwards, sparking a sharp pain in his shoulders.

The fourth rat. Dimitri had not forgotten him – the largest and quietest of the group. He had hung back, but now he stepped between Dimitri and the boy. Dimitri checked himself as he made a study of the man’s simple leather armour. It was limited protection, but the muscles underneath spoke of training and experience that needed to be taken into account.

‘Have you no shame?’ the man grunted. ‘Attacking a child.’

‘No,’ Dimitri hissed. ‘There is no place left in me for shame.’

The man stepped forward, forcing Dimitri back towards the fire. The child stumbled to his feet and bolted, disappearing into the darkness.

‘So then,’ the man said, ‘do you wait up here for innocent travellers? Sneak up on them in the dark like a coward and rob them?’

Dimitri sneered. ‘If rats don’t keep a watch, they should be prepared for death.’

‘There is only one person here who deserves the name rat. The men you killed were just trying to survive, doing what they could to feed their families in the midst of this endless war.’

‘They were thieves. They desecrated a holy place.’

The man shrugged. ‘The Emperor made sure we’re all thieves, didn’t she?’

The man attacked.

Dimitri blocked the blow with the shaft of his lance. It shuddered. Damn, this one was strong, Dimitri thought as he jumped backwards and lifted his weapon. Dimitri had better reach, but his opponent was large and powerful. He would have to be quick.

Dimitri attempted a thrust, but the man stepped around it and attacked. Dimitri swung his lance up just in time to defend himself.

There was a deafening crack as the lance snapped. Dimitri spun out of the way, dropping it. The man’s sword clanged as it hit Dimitri’s pauldron and reverberated off. If better aimed, the blow would have sliced clean through Dimitri’s armour and the fight would have been over. Dimitri would at least have a bruise as evidence of it.

Dimitri drew his knife and faced the man. The man had dropped back, curiosity evident on his face.

‘That’s expensive armour,’ he commented. ‘Who are you anyway?’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Dimitri replied. He was happy to keep his opponent talking for a moment longer as he searched for his weakness.

‘Someone important then. What are you after?’

Dimitri smiled. ‘Revenge.’

He lunged. The man raised his sword, but Dimitri had expected that and feinted to the side. As the man swung, he ducked within the blade’s reach and plunged the knife into the man’s shoulder.

The man screamed as he dropped his sword.

‘Blood,’ Dimitri whispered into the man’s ear as he pulled out the knife and stabbed again, this time into his side. ‘Death.’ Dimitri twisted his knife.

The man stared at Dimitri in defiance, blood on his lips. ‘You are a demon,’ he spat. ‘You’ll have no place at the goddess’s table.’

Blind fury blanked Dimitri’s mind. He wrenched the knife free, feeling the warm gush of blood against his hand, and slit the man’s throat.

As the corpse fell to the ground, Dimitri stumbled away. Whenever it was done, as the rush and madness of battle stilled, a weakness crept into his bones. He collapsed within the circle of warmth beside the fire, ignoring the bodies of the other two rats.

There was one fish still roasting over the fire. Dimitri reached out and took it.

‘Does that make you happy?’ he asked as he tore the meat from the bones.

‘You need to kill her,’ Glenn answered.

‘Give me time,’ Dimitri replied. ‘I will bring you the souls of all those who have brought destruction to this land. She, as their leader, will drown in the blood of everyone she cares about.’


End file.
